Citizen science can be challenging, especially when activities have to be conducted in locations without an established volunteer base. How to gain people’s trust and convince them to join? How to provide hands-on support to volunteers from another city when they face technical difficulties? These questions are usually top of mind when project managers start planning a campaign in a new territory.

Case studies

Herzele

These concerns also occupied COMPAIR researchers in Flanders. On the one hand, they were excited to expand the scope of the Flemish pilot to a new location (Herzele). On the other hand, they were worried that, without having a permanent representation in the municipality, finding enough volunteers and providing them with regular face-to-face support could prove difficult.

The solution presented itself in the form of community champions, or passionate individuals eager to provide voluntary support to people in the neighbourhood. By helping others, they earn the reputation of the ‘heart and soul’ of a community. As such, community champions are not just popular with locals; they also command a lot of trust and respect, which makes them a valuable intermediary between the project and residents, especially in the early stages.

Before starting recruitment, the research team talked to the local authority to see if it can recommend an ‘active citizen’ to act as a gateway to the local community. A few were proposed for the role. After talking to them and securing commitment to support the project, a group of several champions was formed with diverse characteristics.

A meeting with ‘local champions’ in Herzele

Some ended up being ‘functional’ champions. These were the people who, in addition to their active involvement in community work - often already leading a local network - joined the citizen science project as a dedicated participant in all scheduled stages. At the outset, they helped to spread the word about the measurement campaign within their network of contacts and, once the activities started, liaised with the project team on behalf of participants.

Some people filled the role of ‘technical’ champions. These were citizens with advanced ICT skills who were willing to support others (with sensor assembly, troubleshooting etc.) when the project team wasn’t around. One technical champion who had a 3D printer at home redesigned a casing for the air quality sensors to make it easier to use.

The success in Herzele would not be possible without community champions. If you are looking to set up a project in a place where your team doesn’t have many local connections, try to identify community champions with roots to the area, as working with them is beneficial in at least two ways. First, by acting as conduit between the project and local volunteers, they can facilitate access to a grassroot community that an external project team may not be able to reach on its own. Second, community champions can help solve minor technical problems and in so doing reduce the cost of servicing a sensor network.

The Herzele case demonstrates that community champions are willing to do all these things pro bono. Because of that, projects should, at a minimum, offer them a token of appreciation by acknowledging their contribution in public engagements and deliverables.

<< Back | Next >>